Name: Flourless Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
Prep time: 5 min
Cook time: 10 min
Total time: 15 min
Ingredients: 1 cup almond flour; 3 tbsp good quality butter, softened; 3 tbsp brown sugar; ½ tsp vanilla extract; 1 tsp cinnamon sugar (optional for garnish)

These gluten-free brown sugar shortbread cookies are buttery with a hint of caramel and cinnamon for an easy treat that everyone will love.

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These slightly sweet, flourless shortbread cookies use only 4 ingredients and come together in just 15 minutes. Eat them warm or cool, as is, or cut them into shapes and dust with sprinkles or powdered sugar for holiday baking fun.

When coming up with an idea for a Christmas cookie, I immediately started to think of ways to make it healthy. I mean, that’s what I do as a registered dietitian. But, the idea of a healthy cookie is an oxymoron if ever there was one. Cookies are made to enjoy!

However, there are a few ways to create a “healthier” cookie. If you care to hear about this during the holiday season, read on. If not, skip on down to the recipe because these brown sugar shortbread beauties are tasty no matter how you slice ’em!

But, let’s talk about…

Healthy Christmas Cookies

You don’t have to change your traditional cookie recipes during the holidays. In fact, I don’t recommend it. But I know many people are looking for gluten-free or dairy-free cookie recipes or ones to work with a special diet.

These brown sugar shortbread cookies are gluten-free but are made with real butter. I swapped in blanched almond flour for regular flour for a nutty and delicious shortbread cookie.

Flourless Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies - ready in 15 minutes! #ChristmasCookies

Ways to make a healthy cookie

Go all the way with whole grain or no-grain, no-sugar-added cookie. I don’t recommend this. At that point, you’ll have a healthy breakfast bar shaped like a cookie.
Take a traditional cookie recipe and reduce the sugar and butter and or swap in a whole grain or nut flour.
Make a traditional cookie in mini form – and vow to eat less of them.

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With this recipe, I used a combination. These cookies are only two bites each, use real (good) butter and almond flour as the base.

The almond flour adds a boost of nutrition (protein + fiber) that you just won’t get from regular flour. Plus, it lets you swap some of the butterfat for healthy fats in almonds.

The cookies are surprisingly tender and tasty with only a handful of ingredients and a few minutes prep.

Using almond flour in cookies

You must use almond flour – not almond meal – for this recipe to work. Almond meal is too coarse to hold the cookies together.

Almond flour has a tender crumb that works well in cookies. The high fat content helps keep the cookies moist too. I like to use it in a number of recipes as an even swap for flour such as in these Almond Flour Sugar Cookies that are perfect for decorating.

More healthy holiday cookies

Cooking Light’s 30+ Healthy Christmas Cookies

Healthy Holiday Cookies from Food Network

EatingWell’s Christmas Cookie Recipes

Gluten-Free-Brown-Sugar-Shortbread-Cookies-Recipe

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5 from 6 votes